German court upholds ban on Apple's iCloud push e-mail services

Apple will not be able to immediately reactivate push e-mail for iCloud and MobileMe users in Germany, as a local court has upheld a ban on the service in that country.

The Mannheim regional court also determined that Apple must pay damages in the suit with Motorola Mobility, according to Dow Jones Newswires. No amount to be paid, however, was specified by the court.

Motorola first won the court case against Apple's push services in Germany in February The initial decision granted Motorola a permanent injunction against the services included in iCloud and its predecessor, MobileMe.

The lawsuit is related to , entitled "Multiple Pager Status Synchronization System and Method." It is the European equivalent of , which carries the same name.

Motorola originally filed the suit last April, before iCloud was even announced. After Apple unveiled its new suite of free cloud services, Motorola argued in court that MobileMe is "integrated" into iCloud, and it's just a name change for the product.

Apple has attempted to fight the injunction in Germany, but lost repeatedly. Last month, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, which handles appeals for the circuit where the Mannheim Regional Court lies, also sided with Motorola and upheld the ban.

Google acquired Motorola Mobility last August for $12.5 billion, a deal that was made after Motorola filed its push e-mail suit against Apple. Though it now officially owns Motorola, Google has made no effort to stop any of the ongoing patent disputes its subsidiary has with Apple.

Google acquired Motorola Mobility last August for $12.5 billion, a deal that was made after Motorola filed its push e-mail suit against Apple. Though it now officially owns Motorola, Google has made no effort to stop any of the ongoing patent disputes its subsidiary has with Apple.

Incorrect. Google does not "now officially own" Motorola. China hasn't yet signed off, and may not for some time (possibly never?), nor has Israel to the best of my knowledge.

One other thing of note before it's claimed: The Motorola patent that Apple infringes on for use with it's push email service is not FRAND-encumbered.

Your comment sir is what is absurd. No offense intended, but you do not know of what you speak fine sir. You obviously do not understand the difference between PUSH email and PULL. PUSH is realtime whereas says POP3 is a polled mail retrieval system where a desktop or mobile device checks for mail at some user specified interval (and was what all mail used until the advent of PUSH).

Go look at wikipedia before you think about rebutting what I am saying.

How absurd. All email is push, both desktop and wireless email. And MobileMe has been around for years.

Did you think posting twice would make your ridiculous statement a fact? Not all email is push. In fact, POP3 (which not too long ago was the most common way to retrieve email, and is still WIDELY used today) is more of a "pull" service, where the client you're using (iPhone, Outlook, Apple Mail, whatever) polls the email server at specified intervals to check for any new email, then downloads a copy to said client. So all email is NOT, in fact, push email, as you claim.

Your comment sir is what is absurd. No offense intended, but you do not know of what you speak fine sir. You obviously do not understand the difference between PUSH email and PULL. PUSH is realtime whereas says POP3 is a polled mail retrieval system where a desktop or mobile device checks for mail at some user specified interval (and was what all mail used until the advent of PUSH).

Go look at wikipedia before you think about rebutting what I am saying.

Electronic mail has been around for a very long time. I'm not sure I'd even agree that pull came before push. In the early days of SMTP, there were no always-on client email programs. You sat down to your computer, opened your email app, and then directly accessed your mailbox. No POP involved.

I'm not saying you're wrong about email, but I wish you'd been a little hesitant in throwing your insults about.

Did you think posting twice would make your ridiculous statement a fact? Not all email is push. In fact, POP3 (which not too long ago was the most common way to retrieve email, and is still WIDELY used today) is more of a "pull" service, where the client you're using (iPhone, Outlook, Apple Mail, whatever) polls the email server at specified intervals to check for any new email, then downloads a copy to said client. So all email is NOT, in fact, push email, as you claim.

No, not all email is push. But "push" email has been around for a very long time. Hard to imagine that Motorola can patent something that old.

No, not all email is push. But "push" email has been around for a very long time. Hard to imagine that Motorola can patent something that old.

Could one argue that the USPS uses a "push" system? Just seems that many patents got issue for things that existed previously just because they were now done electronically. Kind of the like the "Buy it Now" patent a few years back that was no different than you putting a car out front with a price + best offer on the for sale sign.

As for the case, this is going to make Germany a bit of a laughingstock. Any company can have push e-mail anywhere in the world....except Germany.

Here's a question: What happens when a non-German iCloud user visits Germany? Does their push e-mail stop functioning? If not, could this be a workaround for German buyers of iPhones; get set up with a foreign iCloud server? But what if it does mean iPhone-owning visitors to Germany lose e-mail functionality? I think the German tourism board will be just überglücklich to hear about this...

As for the case, this is going to make Germany a bit of a laughingstock. Any company can have push e-mail anywhere in the world....except Germany.

Here's a question: What happens when a non-German iCloud user visits Germany? Does their push e-mail stop functioning? If not, could this be a workaround for German buyers of iPhones; get set up with a foreign iCloud server? But what if it does mean iPhone-owning visitors to Germany lose e-mail functionality? I think the German tourism board will be just überglücklich to hear about this...

One loses the push email functionality but the iPhone can be easily set to poll the servers at specific time intervals. Its really not that serious.

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example" Mark Twain"Just because something is deemed the law doesn't make it just" - SolipsismX

As for the case, this is going to make Germany a bit of a laughingstock. Any company can have push e-mail anywhere in the world....except Germany.

Here's a question: What happens when a non-German iCloud user visits Germany? Does their push e-mail stop functioning? If not, could this be a workaround for German buyers of iPhones; get set up with a foreign iCloud server? But what if it does mean iPhone-owning visitors to Germany lose e-mail functionality? I think the German tourism board will be just überglücklich to hear about this...

Incorrect. Google does not "now officially own" Motorola. China hasn't yet signed off, and may not for some time (possibly never?), nor has Israel to the best of my knowledge.

One other thing of note before it's claimed: The Motorola patent that Apple infringes on for use with it's push email service is not FRAND-encumbered.

As soon as I finished reading the article, I was going to comment on the fact that in no way does Google yet own Motorola Mobility -- thanks for getting there first With respect to Israel, MMI indicates on its web site that it filed a 10K on 17 Feb re: having received clearance from Israel.

As soon as I finished reading the article, I was going to comment on the fact that in no way does Google yet own Motorola Mobility -- thanks for getting there first With respect to Israel, MMI indicates on its web site that it filed a 10K on 17 Feb re: having received clearance from Israel.

One loses the push email functionality but the iPhone can be easily set to poll the servers at specific time intervals. Its really not that serious.

That's what I was thinking. I really don't see the appeal to MobileMe anyway, don't most internet providers also provide email services. I would much rather use a local email service or even create my own. I've had the same email address for the last 12 years from a server and domain that I control, cost's me 15 CHF for the domain and 30 for the server rental a year. I even have 500 GB of storage for only a extra 20 CHF and the server is located only 10 miles away so I get like 5,000 MBS up and 30,000 MBS down, numbers that iCloud could never give me.

Not saying there is anything wrong with MobileMe but your provider already delivers these services, why use Apples?

When I looked up "Ninjas" in Thesaurus.com, it said "Ninja's can't be found" Well played Ninjas, well played.